The present invention relates to resurfacing of rolls that are used in manufacturing equipment and have a surface texture required for the particular manufacturing operation in which the roll is used.
Many manufacturing processes utilize equipment having rolls with textured surfaces, such as traction rolls used in various textile manufacturing equipment to wind up or control the feed of a traveling textile web as it progresses through the equipment. Surface textured rolls are also used in other manufacturing equipment such as in the steel industry. The surface texture on such rolls may be a friction providing surface such as by narrow strips of sandpaper helically wrapped around and glued to the surface of the roll or various types of thermal sprayed abrasion resistant coatings applied directly to the surface of the roll.
These surface textured rolls are subject to wear during use and must be replaced or resurfaced. This results in the considerable expense of having to purchase a new roll or the expense and out-of-service time of having the roll shipped to a resurfacing facility or the frequent removing and replacing of the sandpaper surface at the facility at which the roll is being used. Also, in some manufacturing facilities, the change from handling one material to another requires the substitution of a roll with a different type or grade of surface texture. This requires the user to have an inventory of costly rolls.
By the present invention, a method is provided for resurfacing a roll that is used in equipment at a manufacturing facility by wrapping a strip of surface textured metal onto the roll at the manufacturing facility, with the surface textured strip having been textured at a remote location. This is accomplished in the present invention by providing a supply reel of a narrow, thin metal strip at a treating location remote from the manufacturing location, continuously unwinding the metal strip from the supply reel at the treating location for continuous travel through a treating station and subsequently rewinding onto a takeup reel with the metal strip being surface treated as it travels through the treating station. The reel of surface treated metal strip is transported to the manufacturing facility at which the roll to be surfaced is located and the metal strip is unwound from the takeup reel and helically wrapped and attached onto the surface of the roll.
In specific embodiments, the metal strip is fed through the treating location in contact with an arcuate surface of a mandrel or helically around a rotating cylinder to impart curvature to the strip as it is treated, with the curvature being in the same general direction as the curvature of the treated strip on the takeup reel. The surface treated strip is then fed directly from the mandrel or cylinder to the takeup reel so that the curvature imparted will remain, at least to some extent, thereby facilitating conformance of the strip to the reel and subsequently to the roll when wrapped thereon. Alternatively, the surface treating can be accomplished by immersing the unwound strip sequentially in a plurality of treating baths.
In a preferred embodiment, the surface treating to the strip is accomplished by applying coating material using various types of thermal spray equipment as the applicator.
The attachment of the strip to the roll to be resurfaced may be an adhesive attachment. In one embodiment a double sided adhesive tape is applied for disposition between and adherence to the surface of the roll and the metal strip being wrapped on the roll.
Further, in the preferred embodiment the surface treating creates a friction texture on the surface of the metal strip, which can be accomplished by coating using various types of thermal spray equipment as the applicator.
Thus, by the present invention, a roll with a textured surface can be resurfaced without the expense of shipping and out-of-service time at the manufacturing facility with a relatively short downtime and without the expense of having to purchase a new roll. Also, importantly, a roll can be resurfaced at the manufacturing facility readily for changing over the use of the roll to a different condition or application, thereby eliminating the need for an inventory of rolls having different surface texture.